Urban Renewal Means Negro Removal

Last semester at Rutgers-Newark one of my students stood before the class to present his idea for a play that dealt with an issue striking the core of Newark. That tall and lithe black (I do no know his cultural identification) male student said to us the truth as he knew it: “Urban Renewal means Negro removal.” He wasn’t trying to be funny. That phrase has been over-used into a cliche but on that cold day in Newark, in the refurbished second floor Bradley Hall rehearsal space, we all felt a little smaller and colder.